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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  February 13, 2013 10:00am-11:00am PST

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hello, north carolina! >> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," job one. president obama hits the road in north carolina selling his state of the union message. >> our job, and this is a job for everybody. it's not a democratic thing or republican thing. our job as americans is to restore that basic bargain that says if you work hard, if you're willing to meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead. >> but the real impact of last night's speech, the president's emotional plea at the end to stop gun violence. >> hadiya's parents, mel and cleo are in this chamber tonight
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as well as 2 million americans whose lives have been torn apart from gun violence. they deserve a vote. gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped over by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. >> senator marco rubio, delivering a combative republican response. >> no government isn't going to help you get ahead. it's going to hold you back. more government isn't going to create opportunities. it's going to limit them. mr. president, i don't oppose your plan because i want to protect the rich. i oppose your plan because i want to protect my neighbors. >> but it was that unscripted lunge for water that's lighting up social media. the senator made light of the
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moment by tweeting a picture of the water bottle and cracking jokes on the morning talk shows. >> i needed water. what am i going to do, you know? it happens. god has a funny way of reminding us we're human. good day. i'm andrea mitchell. live in washington. for the daily fix, chis and chuck todd, chief political correspondent and host of "the daily rundown." two speeches, two different approaches. chuck todd, we see the president on the road today. he'll be on the road the rest of the week. did he muddy up or cover up his middle class message, economic message with that incredible and emotional appeal at the end? >> or would the speech have just sort of disappeared quickly, the state of the union speech, without the emotional ending. this speech was being set up. it was sort of run-of-the-mill.
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felt a little clintonesque aspect to it the way clinton used to do state of the unions. i want to do this, i want to do this. a series of smaller issues in a large framework, if you got it all would be a big change, but small things that he wants to get done in a larger context. but, you know, this speech is going to be remembered for the last ten minutes. and i'll tell you, you just can't help -- you watch him -- his ability -- i don't think people understand how hard it is to get members of congress. even on the half of them who agree with you as a sitting president, to act like an audience in a congregation. or act like an audience in a campaign rally. they lived the moment. when i saw jeff sessions standing up clapping and looking for the 102-year-old woman up there. you thought, boy, they all bought into the moment. that's something -- it's a nice moment for washington. >> although john boehner did not get up for the 102-year-old
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woman. >> no, but he got up or other things too. please, it's at the end of the speech. >> what about marco rubio, there's been a lot of nitpicking. overall, it's a very hard job to give the response, the republican response. there's been very few examples, and you, chris, anyone who has given a democratic or republican response that has been effective. we saw bobby jindal with brian williams last night in a very effective interview. but we know how ineffective his response from new orleans was when he tried it. so what about marco rubio and his especially message. >> i feel like it's that infamous "sports illustrated" jinx. they put you on the cover, it's the worst possible thing for your career. >> unless you're wearing a bathing suit. >> well -- geez -- i'm not going -- i will not address. that.
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>> she is trying to suck you into a kate upton conversation. >> exactly. >> i'm fully hydrated and i'm just continuing forward. >> don't reach for your water. >> president of the united states is addressing the cabinet. the supreme court. all the members of congress. the diplomatic corps. there's sort of a grandeur of the moment just visually. no matter what you do, bob mcdonald, the governor of virginia a few years ago sort of surrounded himself with people. we know the bobby jindal speech came off awkward. marco rubio, someone joked he looked like he was sit on the set of "downton abbey." yes, the grab for water, you could tell that his voice was going out. is something that the internet is going to live with for the next 24, 48, 72 hours and democrats thrilled to for a very long time. do i think it's something that ultimately matters? no. i thought the best thing marco
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rubio did in that speech. he did something that mitt romney couldn't do for the four years that he was campaigning. marco rubio was able to say, president obama says we're the party of the rich. we're not. i'm looking out for my neighbors. i care about medicare. i care about these things. i'm not a wealthy elitist. he did that well. you know if he didn't lunge for the water, that's what we'd be talking about today. i think in the long run, that's what we winds up talking about. i think that's the message he articulates going forward as the leader of the party. >> the fact that he gave the speech also first in spanish. you know, he has been working on that bipartisan group of senators. and they will tell you you the democrats will tell you that he is working very closely with them, trying to make immigration reform a reality. >> but i wonder though, if -- yet, he didn't talk about that in his speech. he didn't talk about what he's doing about bipartisan pr approaches. what i found interesting, sigh felt that marco rubio,
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poll-tested well. the message he was doing, there was no change. he was delivering the romney/ryan stump speech. >> it was not the evolved republican message? >> well, it's not a change message. evolve -- you get into that, people will -- but it was not changed. the question is, did he broaden -- if this is about did bobby jindal and marco rubio start -- hey, they're trying to get into the persuasion game. they got to start making the idea for why they're right. >> marco rubio had tea party support, but there is another cohort of another tea party-supported senators and ted cruz, the freshman from texas is the exemplar of that. this is what happened yesterday on the chuck hagel vote on armed services. when john mccain comes in as a critic and ends up having to defend chuck hagel because of the very sharp attack from ted cruz. let's watch. >> we saw with his nomination
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something truly extraordinary which is the government of iran formally and publicly praising the nomination of a defense secretary. i would suggest to you that is unprecedented to see a foreign nation like iran publicly celebrating a nomination. >> i want to put on the record that this senator feels like that senator cruz has gone over the line. he basically has impugned the patriotism of the nominee. >> senator hagel is an honorable man. he's served his country, and no one on this committee at anytime should impugn his character or his integrity. >> so, chuck todd, ted cruz has made a mark already. this isn't the first instance? >> no, he's not. i've been thinking about this, this new -- if you want to say this is more evidence. but you know, i remember a young
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rick santorum coming in breaking some traditions. >> boy, did he. >> breaking when he did this, three, four, five years later when he realized that was sort of offending people. he changed a little bit. he couched his rhetoric. i wonder if some of the old bulls on the republican side -- somebody is going to pull ted cruise aside and say, look, nobody's telling you you shouldn't speak up. but there's some decorum. we do things a little differently in the senate. he may not take to it well. he seems like a man in a hurry. >> chris, before you jump in, i want to share with the both of you the washingtonian has a great article about one of our colleagues. apparently, somebody was in the dog park and heard a fellow washingtonian yelling chuck todd, chuck todd. they didn't see our intrepid correspondent. and somebody in the dog park has
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named their labrador chuck today. >> why does not dog not have a goatee. >> it was at the westminster dog show. >> that's a good looking dog. >> and you are a good looking dog, too, if i'm not being too sexist. i'm such a dog lover. chuck, thank you. >> thank you. meanwhile, president -- to completely talk more seriously about last night, president obama's emotional appeal, for congress to at least vote, at least have a vote on new gun laws did not impress marco rubio, as the florida senator made it abundant clear this morning on cbs. >> first of all, our heart is broken for those people as i said last night. all of us would want to prevent that from happening again. and anything that would work to prevent that again we should want to vote on. the problem is, everything the president is proposing would do nothing to prevent what happened
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in newtown. >> new york congresswoman carolyn mccarthy joins me now and of course a leader for new gun safety laws and was in the chamber last night. first of all, your response to marco rubio and as to whether the president's call for a vote on some of these proposals is go together make a difference? >> well, thank you for having me here, i have to say, even know i was in the chamber and i had brought someone who suffered from gun violence from my hometown, i have to say i don't believe he was actually talking to us. he was talking to the american people. i also know he was talking to victims not only in the chamber but across the country. and i think that's what we need to do and i think he did that on purpose. we understand that the majority of american people do believe that we need to do and should do and can do something to reduce gun violence. you know, you met me during my first run for election, and i ran on the gun issue.
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and it's been certainly a very long, long journey to be to be very honest with you. but i do believe with my heart and soul that we can get something to do, to reduce gun violence in this country. >> congresswoman, do you think that -- what do you think is actually going to get through? is it going to be the sort of lowest common denominator in terms of consensus, background checks perhaps that the nra once supported at least? or is it going to be something that the government gets to controlling handguns? and i know the assault rifle, a separate issue among many of the law enforcement. the handguns, we had the parents of the teenager of chicago, hadiya pendleton sitting with the first lady last night. nothing could have been more heartbreaking than seeing those people and seeing others. and your pain is of more distant years but no less raw to you.
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you lost your husband and your son was was grievously injured. >> you know, i look at it with handguns. on some of the things we are going to be doing. closing the gun show loophole because most of those guns are illegal guns. they're not people that went through their background checks and bought these guns. the majority of them are buying them on the black market. they're going to the gun shows. they're getting them over the internet. so legislation that we're talking about can stop that. it's not going to stop immediately. but it's something we can do long term to save lives. you know when you're talking about over 11,000 homicides a year, i understand that people say, well, you're only going to be able maybe correct 8% to 12%. well, that 8% to 12% are quite a few number of people's lives. they don't even talk about the lives that we can possibly save from serious injury. i believe that we can actually do something. i'm hoping that my republican
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colleagues will certainly work with us to pass legislation. and i believe we can. we're waiting for the senate because it's going to be easier for us on the house side, for them to come over with a bill. we can adjust it if we can, but it will push the house side to take something up. and i think that's important. >> congresswoman, briefly, isn't there also a big problem among democrats? this is a regional issue as well. you've got democrats from rural areas and other parts of the country, beyond the northeast, who are as fiercely opposing any kind of new gun laws as are republican members. >> to be very honest with you, if you look on the democratic side, yes, we have members that come from areas that this is not going to be a great vote for them but you know what, let them vote no. but we have identified and certainly through polling and everything, we're only identifying eight democrats that would have a real problem for
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voting for anything. on the republican side, there are a lot more republicans that should be voting with us that will not hurt them. so, again, we're trying to make sure that republicans and democrats -- and by the way, andrea, i happen to think that here in congress, we are hired to make tough votes. and many of us, on both sides of the aisle over the years have made tough votes. i've always felt that i certainly want to continue working here. i enjoy working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. but if i have to make a vote that maybe my whole district will disapprove of me, but it's good for the whole country, and they fire me, then that's what i'm here for. there's so many subjects that come up besides the gun issue that certainly immigration issue. i was always for reform immigration. back on long island it was not a popular subject.
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but it was my job to teach people that. the same with the gun issue. try to understand a lot of things that we're hearing, the rhetoric that we're hearing are not true. all we're trying to do is have gun safety. cut down on the amount of people that die and then we have done our job. >> carolyn mccarthy, always good to talk to you. thank you very much, congressman. >> thank you for having me. up next, the sequester with only two weeks left before automatic cuts kick in. is there a way out? gene sperling join us next. and we're live in california where the man hunt for christopher dorner came to a fiery end. just ahead on "andrea mitchell reports." in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need
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and this breaking news from nbc news. nbc news has been told by three military officials that general
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john allen, the proposed nominee to be the supreme allied commander at nato in europe is likely to withdraw his name from consideration to avoid further questions at hearings, even though he's been cleared of all inpropriety regarding that jill kelley e-mail situation which emerged from the petraeus controversy. general allen has spoken with the secretary of defense and chairman of the joint chiefs. he has not spoken with the president who could still try to talk him out of it. but we're told that general allen is likely to withdraw his name from that top job at nato. meanwhile, president obama is selling the message that helping the middle class is job one. even as the president spoke, it was clear looking at john boehner that the house speaker was not impressed. >> last night, the president offered up more of the same. higher taxes and more stimulus spending.
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and just as disappointing, we're weeks away from the president's sequester. >> joining me now is gene sperling, director of the national economic council and assistant to the president for economic policy for the white house. first of all, what about the republican complaints that the president said every dime is paid for. that he did not specify how he's going to pay for these new programs. your response? >> well, you know, unfortunately, that's just a political remark. it's not based on any substantive facts at all. you know, what's very clear, we've cut the deficit by $2.5 trillion. it's been bipartisan. $3 in spending cuts for every $1 of revenue. the speaker know, republicans know that the proposal the president had on the table that they walked away from, including over a trillion dollars of spending cuts, including savings.
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and had only about $580 billion in revenues. so, you know, there was another $1.8 trillion of deficit reduction that was on the table. $2 of that was spending cuts for every dollar of revenue. >> but gene, that proposal is -- >> so to say that the president is not serious about spending cuts and tough measures is blatantly not accurate. >> that wasn't the question. the question is, what about the new proposals he made last night? because what they're saying is, regardless of what was proposed and negotiated and never reached agreement before -- >> so, andrea -- >> -- what about the new proposals for pre-k, the new proposals for the minimum wage increase? how do you pay for the things he specified in the state of the union? >> so what the president said very clearly yesterday, he is living within the budget control acts on the domestic spending targets we've agreed to, we're living within those. those will cut deficit to well
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over a trillion dollars and bring us to the lowest level of congressional spending in 50 years. and like the president said, issues that are compelling like pre-k, we can meet the savings and meet the goals and still do it without increasing the deficit a penny. look, i don't think americans believe, as the president said you just cut your way to prosperity. one of the ways you reduce the deficit, you do entitlement reform but you do tax reform that raises the level to lower deficit. is one that you want to bring the deficit down to encourage more private investment. but you also want to make room for things that make our country great. eisenhower investing in the interstate highway program. democrats and republicans increases in mia for bio research. i think it absolutely supports that you can cut lower priority
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spending to reduce the deficit and that you can use a portion of that to do things that are compelling like pre-k, universal education for 4 year olds. because we're a country that believes everybody should have a fair start. and the minimum wage has no government cost at all. that's just a commitment that we as a people believe if you work full time, you work hard, you should be able to raise your family in dignity. not in poverty. >> fair point about the minimum wage. that comes out of the private sector, obviously, and some that argue will cost jobs but we can debate that another time. what about the sequester? what is happening right now that will give people any hope at all and consumer confidence because of the gridlock in washington is a real factor? we see that in our polling. what confidence could anyone have that anything could happen to avoid the sequester? >> well, andrea, i thought one of the powerful points the president made last night is that we've come out of a financial crisis. congress should not be
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manufacturing crisis every few months. you're absolutely right. that hurts consumer confidence. it also hurts business confidence and the entire to invest. and i think the point that the president made last night and i think powerfully is that there is another way. and the way is what the american people would like. it's bipartisan compromise. it's in the structure of the simpson-bowles bipartisan commission where you combine that with tax reform that reduces the deficit. that's a reasonable bipartisan way that requires the president to say everyone to compromise. that's the right way. and i think what he's made clear the idea that an ideological rigidity about taxes would let some people decide they would rather shut the government down. have harsh spending cuts that hurt defense, national security, education is unfortunate and it's unnecessary. and i do believe that there are reasonable republicans in the congress who understand the
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deficit reduction does require serious entitlement reform to reduce the deficit. and there are loopholes and tax expenditures for the most well off and most well connected that could also be closed as part of our plan. to bring down the deficit and, yes, still make room for investment and train for our people. >> we'll leave it there, gene sperling, thank you very much, the day after the state of the union. and strong republican reaction to the president's big speech, we'll be hearing from jason chafets coming up. plus, is there any chance of finding common ground. and still ahead, jordanian former nasser judah fresh from a meeting just now with secretary of state john kerry. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." or best-ever meatloaf. go to campbellskitchen.com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.
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officer and former marine michael craine. crain was ambushed by christopher dorner. this morning, authorities continue their investigation, sifting through what is left of that cabin which was destroyed by fire. they also await results that could positively identify the remains found onsite of those of christopher dorner. nbc's john yang is up they're not from that big bear. john, the chase, the fact that he was in another cabin. two maids came in and he encountered them. and took their truck. and all the events that led to that fireball really exploding last night. take us through it. >> reporter: it san extraordinary story, andrea. it's like straight out of a
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movie. it's very fitting that this is a hollywood/los angeles story. he took off in one of the housekeepers -- the people that had shown up to clean the house. took off in one of their vehicles and had to ditch -- had to change vehicles because he spun out on the roads and hijacked -- car-jacked another vehicle and had an accident in that one. fled on foot. the authorities followed the footprints through the snow to the second cabin where they had him sort of cornered. there was a gunfight. san bernardino county sheriff's deputy was killed. another one wounded. expected to survive, though he'll take another series of operations. and as you say, andrea, they have now located the body in the rubble of this cabin. there is a report by the associated press that we have not been able to independently confirm that they have found his driver's license with the body. no one is saying that this is
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definitely dorner, but there seems to be a lot of indications that they're confident it is. the lapd has reduced their heightened alert. and also, they've scaled back their protective details. of people listed in dorner's manifesto. last week, or after the manifesto came out, they had protective details around, about 50 families, now, that's down to about a dozen. andrea. >> and the fact is, though, john, he was found -- or he ended up in a cabin that was across from the checkpoint that the police up there had set up. and is there any question that they had either checked that cabin before or hadn't checked enough cabins. or were only checking vacant cabins and could have overlooked what happened over these days? >> reporter: yeah what they can doing, they were knocking on cabin doors, if there was no
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answer and there was no sign of forced entry, they'd move on. so apparently, had was able to get in in a way that didn't leave any evident signs or obvious signs that there had been a break-in. we can only presume this cabin had been checked. they got no response, no signs of a break-in so he moved on. but he was right across the street over the weekend, presumably watching the activities, watching press briefings, and it wasn't until the two women showed up to clean the cabin yesterday that he was discovered. >> just incredible. also the fact, let's face it the san bernardino sheriff's office and lapd had different takes on this at different times. it was a very complicated state wide man hunt, really, just the sufficient of movies as you say, john yang, thanks for being with us. coming up the state of the
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the president appealed to the middle class with a litany of proposals last night. programs that he claims will not add a single dime to the deficit. joining me now with economic fact checking is "the new york times" david leonhardt and author of the new book "here's the deal." david, your response to the economic side of those proposals? >> let's do one positive and one negative. the positive i would say, if you look at history, i think there's a lot of evidence for the idea that certain basic investments that if the government doesn't do them, the private sector won't do them are crucial to growth. which the president returned to. i think history supports that idea. education, science, research. if the government doesn't do it, no one will. and it's crucial to growth. and i think he's right about a lot of that. if you're going to make critique, i think he boasted about a number of things that
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are the product of a weak economy than any policy. he boasted about the idea that carbon admissions are down. he boasted about illegal immigration is down. health care costs have slowed. all of those are a mix of things but also that there's a weak economy and he's sort of taking credit for them. >> in particular, the drop in foreign oil imports as the economy slowed, obviously, there was less need and more production on the natural gas side. >> exactly. >> let's talk about "here's the deal" and some of your proposals and how you thing those can be tailored for the political realities of what we're facing. gridlock in washington. the sequester, the failure for any meaningful dialogue between the two political parties. >> democracy is messy, right, this idea that they're going to be fine is misplaced. you hope you go three steps forward and two steps back. rather than two steps forward and three steps back. i think one of the real problems
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here is is that ordinary people look at washington and they say, what's going on? one of the things i try to argue is part of what's going on, washington is reflecting us. we want low taxes. we want medicare and social security that doesn't change. we want a strong military. and you put all of these things together and you end up with the deficit. so it's not just politicians that make choices, but we have to make choices about what kind of government do we want. we have to have one that adds up which two sides of the ledger balance. >> where do you think the president stands in terms of entitlement reform? he says he can do it, there can be meaningful reform. is he really meaning on taking it on because that means taking on medicare? >> what he's done, he's put to the side medicaid. he thinks medicaid is krascratc. with medicare, he says he doesn't want to raise the retirement age, at least in the immediate term. he said he's open to two things. he didn't talk about it in the speech.
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but negotiations. one, he's changing the technical formula for social security. a lot of republicans favor that. and through his health care bill, he's in favor of trying to tweak medicare in little ways to try to have less waste and health care that doesn't make you healthier that the government pays for. basically, his attitude is, they could make some changes now. as we get down the road should we make more of them or fewer. and do the republicans want to get into medicare, given how incredibly popular it is. >> david leonhardleonhardt. thank you. in rome, pope benedict celebrated his final mass. the mass was held inside to st. peter's basilica so more people could attend. his add vocation telling the vehiclely audience that he's resign for the good of the
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church. the vatican announced that the papal conclave for the next pope will begin the week after march 15th. we'll be right back. ♪ wow. [ buzz ] delicious, right? yeah. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... ♪ well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? bee happy. bee healthy. with clusters of flakes and o's. oh, ho ho... it's the honey sweetness. i...i mean, you...love.
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to hear more of phyllis's story, visit lyrica.com. secretary of state john kerry has just completed a meeting with his counterpart from jordan, foreign minister nasser judeh. with both men realized the need to restart the palestinian communications with two-stage resolution. the foreign minister joins me here at the table. thank you very much. thanks for being with us. >> good to be here. >> peace talks have been stalled. completely stalled for four years. what gives you any hope that the new president and secretary of state are going to put energy into this? >> well, it's not just about hope. and if we're going to rely on hope in the previous track record, then a lot of us would be pessimistic. we're extremely convinced this
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is of paramount importance. this is the core issue. seeking peace in the middle east i think that we're all in agreement over and it's apparent. y, you're absolutely right. there was a major evidence in 2010 which has stalled. we in jordan, his majesty king, early in 2012 conducted what we called exploratory talks to try and wedge the gap between the two parties to try and create an atmosphere to talk. of course, it actually helped but what is missing at this stage say process, unfortunately, we've had too much process and not enough peace. a process that would lead to direct negotiations concerning all foreign state decisions. this is a priority. >> well, at the same time, we've had the arab spring. you had a war in syria -- a civil war in syria with more than 60,000 people dead. you have the refugees.
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you still have the refugees from iraq and now the refugees boarding your economy in syria. what's happening in egypt has got to be an extreme concern. so you've got a real crisis in your neighborhood. >> in the middle east, huh? and this is not the first time that the middle east witnesses terrible upheaval. but thank god for the stability between jordan. and we're still living in the region. we're very, very conscious of what's happening in the region. i think you basically answered the way that i would answer. by looking at the region, looking at the turbulence in the region and bringing to the foreground the fact that the palestinian issue, the palestinian/israeli peace talks are more essential than ever to be revived at this stage. come may, the palestinian conflict is the main source of instability not just in the region but far beyond. >> this is what secretary kerry
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had to say about syria today. >> i can assure you my goal is to see us change this calculation. my goal is to see us have a negotiated outcome. and minimize the violence. it may not be possible. >> what more should the united states be doing? there are those in the senate, john mccain and others saying we should have awe no-fly zone, more support to the rebels, and others know there's a real deputy between the defense and the white house and others deciding if you're on the rebels with so many al qaeda rebels youvy ma the blowback that we experienced in the '90s in afghanistan? >> this is exactly what we see in jordan. and we've been asked in the past to give an opinion as to arming the rentals. and the king said give us a c.v.
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and give us an address. we want to make sure they're going to right people and not the wrong people. there are different approaches out there. yes, there's general disagreement over certain issues. but i think there's agreement between all the parties including china, by the way, that we have to have a solution that kicks in to end the violence on the were you hand. and take syria into transition. what is. happening on the ground in syria today is a civil war. i know some people steer clear of calling it a civil war but it is a civil war of a political nation. and the worst case scenario for all in the middle east is for that so slide into a sectarian civil war. if you compare that with the composition in egypt, in syria, you have lots of minorities each one of them republicing 3%, 4% of population put together in the majority. so the risk and potential of a sectarian area with violence we
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have to put that political situation kicking in and get the transition in place and then restore dignity to the great syrian people. >> how do you get assad to give up power? >> again, this is a process. we're seeing gestures from opposition. we have statements from the syrian national coalition saying he's willing to talk to representatives of the regime, so long as they don't have blood on their hands. this is a positive step forward. we saw statements talking about the regimes and it's important to put all the components together in trying to get people talking. >> well, it's always a pleasure. thank you so much for seeing us. we look forward to see you you in aman and the travel with the president as well. >> look forward as as well. we have great sadness at nbc and especially for me. tom aspell, my friend,
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colleague, a great correspondent for nbc died monday after a two-year battle with cancer. tom was one of the best. spent decades in the middle east. always calm in the fray. selfless around the globe. he began back in 1970, it was his lens that captured some of the iconic images as saigon fell to forces in 1975. later as an intrepid and fearless correspondent tom covered it all. from bosnia, from chechnya, baghdad and kabul, always as the us in president steve capus recalled where others were fleeing. he was a great story teller. the wit and ready smile. a native new zealander. he leaves his wife and two sons. he was only 62 years old. a loss that will be deeply felt. i got your campbell's chunky soup.
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>> joining me now is a member of the house oversight and government reform committee. thanks so much for being with us, congressman. let's talk about what gene sperling had to say and the president said. is everything he proposed last night is paid for. >> i have a hard time believing that. i haven't yet seen it. one of the things we believe as republicans that the democrats and president need to do is produce a budget. it has been four years since the senate has presented a budget. he is all right late. if we can agree on a budget, everything else falls into line. >> what about reports that republicans in the caucus want the sequester to go in and it will produce deeper cuts and you have more leverage to negotiate after that. >> we do believe a true balanced approach the president got, we
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need spending cuts. there should be more of a shared sacrifice. i like to see entitlement reform and tax to get rid of the tax loopholes. i'm in favor of that, but we have to get to the details. some of the things the president said i agree with, but that nothing will cost money in terms of the deficit, that is stunning. i can't believe that's true. if it is, show us a budget where he believes that's true. >> and the emotional core of the speech was the ending of the speech on guns and gun violence. have you heard anything in the gun proposals that you could support? >> i think the intersection between use of lethal weapons and allowing access from the mentally challenged that shouldn't be making these decisions -- >> background checks? >> we have to make sure that the system we have now is working. for instance, more than half of the states don't populate the
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mental health database so that the fbi can do the proper checks right now. i called my governor and we talked with the governor's office in utah and they populate that. they threw more than 10,000 records into the system. things that we should be going and fixing, but i don't agree with the president on all the things he wants to do, but that should be common ground. i want to go there with it. >> thanks. thanks for being with us today. that does it for this edition of andr"andrea mitchell reports." "news nation" is next. we found it together. on a walk, walk, walk. love to walk. yeah, we found that wonderful thing. and you smiled. and threw it. and i decided i would never, ever leave it anywhere. because that wonderful, bouncy, roll-around thing... had made you play. and that...
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